The 10 Best New Young Adult Books in February 2017

Why You’ll Love It: There’s so much to love in LaCour’s books. From her music-filled The Disenchantments to her heartbreaking debut Hold Still, she tugs at your heartstrings with prose that’s as beautiful as it is devastating. And with We Are Okay, LaCour’s provokes those feelings again.

In We Are Okay, readers meet Marin, a teen girl who has run away from home and is forced to confront her demons. This novel is a great choice for readers who love the hard-hitting prose of Courtney Stevens and Mindy McGinnis. Description: Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun.

Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.

7. The Wish Granter by C.J. Redwine

Release Date: February 14th from Balzer + Bray

Why You’ll Love It: Beginning with The Shadow Queen last year, Redwine plunged readers into an epic fantasy series comprised of standalone books retelling fairytales. The Wish Granter tackles Rumpelstiltskin’s story, delivering another romantic thrill-ride of a book. Brimming with murder and betrayal, it’s the sort of intense tale that made The Shadow Queen so enthralling.

Redwine’s series is perfect for readers who adore Marissa Meyer’s The Lunar Chronicles, with stories set in nearby kingdoms that stand on their own.

Description: The world has turned upside down for Thad and Ari Glavan, the bastard twins of Súndraille’s king. Their mother was murdered. The royal family died mysteriously. And now Thad sits on the throne of a kingdom whose streets are suddenly overrun with violence he can’t stop.

Growing up ignored by the nobility, Ari never wanted to be a proper princess. And when Thad suddenly starts training Ari to take his place, she realizes that her brother’s ascension to the throne wasn’t fate. It was the work of a Wish Granter named Alistair Teague who tricked Thad into wishing away both the safety of his people and his soul in exchange for the crown.

So Ari recruits the help of Thad’s enigmatic new weapons master, Sebastian Vaughn, to teach her how to fight Teague. With secret ties to Teague’s criminal empire, Sebastian might just hold the key to discovering Alistair’s weaknesses, saving Ari’s brother—and herself.

But Teague is ruthless and more than ready to destroy anyone who dares stand in his way—and now he has his sights set on the princess. And if Ari can’t outwit him, she’ll lose Sebastian, her brother…and her soul.

8. The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera

Release Date: February 21st from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Why You’ll Love It: If you adored Charlotte Huang’s Going Geek, here’s another fish-out-of-water story you’re guaranteed to enjoy. Rivera’s charming debut introduces Margot Sanchez, a teen who runs up a ton of money on her father’s credit card and has to work in the family grocery store to pay it off.

As sparks fly with a cute new boy and her family continues to drive her up a wall, The Education of Margot Sanchez becomes a novel full of heart about trying to find your place in the world.

Description: After “borrowing” her father’s credit card to finance a more stylish wardrobe, Margot Sanchez suddenly finds herself grounded. And by grounded, she means working as an indentured servant in her family’s struggling grocery store to pay off her debts.

With each order of deli meat she slices, Margot can feel her carefully cultivated prep school reputation slipping through her fingers, and she’s willing to do anything to get out of this punishment. Lie, cheat, and maybe even steal…

9. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Release Date: February 28th from Balzer + Bray

Why You’ll Love It: Another book from our most anticipated YA list Thomas’ debut boasts both humor and a devastating story that will rip you apart.There’s so much to love in this timely book, and you’ll be talking about it for a long time.

Pair this powerful story inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement with Ibi Zoboi’s American Street for weekend reading that will caust you to examine the world around you.

Description: Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Instead of being a mere passenger on her father’s ship, Heilig’s bold protagonist, Nix, is in charge. And just as her father battled to save the person dearest to him, Nix discovers she’s fated to do the same. If you enjoyed Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken or inhaled the Outlander series, this is the perfect read for you. Hello time-traveling pirate ship with family drama.

Description: Nix has spent her whole life journeying to places both real and imagined aboard her time-traveling father’s ship. And now it’s finally time for her to take the helm. Her father has given up his obsession to save her mother—and possibly erase Nix’s existence—and Nix’s future lies bright before her. Until she learns that she is destined to lose Kash, the one she loves.

Desperate to change her fate, Nix takes her crew to a mythical utopia to meet another Navigator who promises to teach her how to manipulate time. But everything in this utopia is constantly changing, and nothing is what it seems—not even her relationship with Kash. Nix must grapple with whether anyone can escape her destiny, her history, her choices.